


Eye Opener

by costumejail



Series: The Value of This Moment Lives in Metaphor [1]
Category: Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys - My Chemical Romance (Album), The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (Comic)
Genre: -ish?, Blood and Injury, Ear Piercings, First Aid, Gen, Implied Sexual Content, Knife Wounds, M/M, Medical Procedures, Minor Injuries, Nonbinary Character, Nonbinary Jet Star (Danger Days), One Shot, Piercings, References to Party and Kobra also being trans!, Slice of Life, Stitches, Transphobia, idk man this ones just a bit gross, implied transphobia not explicit!, kind of explicit with the stitches so be careful if that bothers you!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-28
Updated: 2020-05-28
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:16:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24417994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/costumejail/pseuds/costumejail
Summary: A quiet night at the diner for Jet Star and Cherri Cola as they plan a surprise for the Kobra Kid.
Relationships: Agent Cherri Cola & Jet Star (Danger Days), Agent Cherri Cola/Kobra Kid (Danger Days)
Series: The Value of This Moment Lives in Metaphor [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1813000
Comments: 24
Kudos: 38





	Eye Opener

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings are mostly summed up in the tags! This was loosely inspired by @tapefish's [art of Cherri with pierced ears](https://tapefish.tumblr.com/post/618338920726413312/this-cover-of-cherri-cola-made-it-look-like-they) because I just thought it was so cute!

The front door of the diner slammed open and Cherri Cola fell through it with a dull thud. Jet Star looked up from the pants they had been patching and took in the sight of Cherri sprawled on the sandy linoleum. It had been a quiet night in the diner, Poison, Kobra, and Ghoul had gone out, and rather than leave Jet to watch the kid all by themself, took them to spend the night at the Radio Shack with Dr. Death-Defying and Show Pony. Just before sunset, Cherri had claimed he was going out to drop off some supplies at Gravel Gerties, so to say Jet was surprised to see Cherri back at the diner so soon would be an understatement.

“Cherri?” Jet stood, and when Cherri didn’t reply from his position on the sandy floor, they rushed to his side. 

With a groan, Cherri rolled onto his back and blearily focused on Jet, “I think... I might quite possibly need stitches. Where’s, uh, Ghoul?” His voice was weak enough that Jet had to lean in closely to understand what Cherri was saying.

“He’s at the Analog Queen concert,” Carefully, Jet helped Cherri to his feet. They let go of Cherri once he was standing, but Cherri started to sway, so Jet put an arm back around his waist. Then Jet saw what was wrong. The lower half of Cherri’s shirt was soaked with blood. “Fuck. What happened?”

Grimacing, Cherri lifted his shirt to reveal an array of cuts crisscrossing his stomach. Despite the frequency that Jet had to deal with various crew members being injured, they still struggled not to gag at the sight of Cherri’s ruined skin.

“I’m gonna grab the kit.”

Cherri nodded and Jet laid him across a booth table before quickly locating the first aid bag. 

“This’s gonna sting. D’you want-”

“Just do it.” Cherri gritted out through clenched teeth. 

Rather than argue, Jet began to clean the lacerations carefully, pausing anytime Cherri’s breath became too laboured. Once the blood and sand that coated his stomach had been cleaned off Cherri looked much better. Most of the cuts were shallow and starting to scab, but two of them were definitely deep enough to need stitches and still sluggishly bleeding. Cherri often returned from runs sporting a couple of scrapes and bruises, it was practically unavoidable in the zones, yet these cuts looked intentional, almost _malicious_ in the way they carved across Cherri’s abdomen. 

When the cuts were clean, Jet sterilized the needle and thread that they’d been sewing their pants up with. It was easier, and less painful, to stitch cuts with a curved needle, however, Jet couldn’t find the one that was normally in the medkit, and didn’t want to just leave Cherri sprawled on the booth table while they searched for it. They looked down at Cherri, about to ask him if he wanted a painkiller or at least a shot of the homebrew they’d been cleaning his wounds with to take the edge off. 

Cherri shook his head. “I can take it. Just. Make it fast?”

“Only a few of these need stitches. Tell me when you need a break, okay?”

Cherri clenched a hand into a fist and Jet started to suture the wound. There was no sound from Cherri other than his laboured breathing as Jet pulled the needle through his skin. Normally, Ghoul did all the first aid for the crew so Jet hadn’t actually given anyone stitches in close to a year. The first stitch was messy as Jet tried to remember the right push-pull-slide of the needle and just how tight to pull the thread before knotting it. Regardless, they managed to get the first stitch in place without too much trouble and the second one was easier as Jet’s muscle memory began to take over. They were in the middle of tying off the second stitch when Cherri jerked convulsively. 

“Ten seconds, then I’ll take a break,” promised Jet. 

No reply came. 

“Cherri. _Cherri._ ” Internally apologizing, Jet slapped at Cherri’s face, only stopping once he slurred an unintelligible reply and pushed Jet’s hand away. “Don’t short out on me like that. You gotta stay awake.”

“Sorry,” Cherri nodded tightly, “do th’ next one.”

The needle had barely touched Cherri’s skin before he tensed up again, forcing Jet to pull back. 

“You can’t be all stiff like that. Fucks up the skin and it’ll hurt more.”

“Well, what am I supposed to do?” Snapped Cherri. 

“Deep breaths. Talk t’ me,” Jet urged. “What were you doing?”

“I was in three. Kobes mentioned he-“ Cherri’s voice hitched as Jet pushed the needle in and started on the next stitch, but he swallowed dryly and continued. “Wanted a new brake cable for the bike. I was gonna get him one as a surprise before the next derby, cause it’s been. Probably two years since we got together, y’know?”

The topic seemed to be a good distraction. Nodding absently, Jet tied off the stitch and started the fourth one. The first cut was nearly closed already and the flow of blood had finally stopped from the other deep cut.

“Ran into some ‘joys I know from when I was running with my first crew and they weren’t so pleased t’ see me.”

“Do I know them?” Jet was reasonably popular through the zones and was at least familiar with most crews. They’d definitely try to stay away from whoever left Cherri in this state. Or maybe they’d pay them a visit and return the favour. 

“No,” Cherri shook his head, “They’re a bunch a rock n’ rollers with a hard-on for huntin’ dracs. Don’t talk t’ cityborns.”

“You’re a cityborn,” pointed out Jet, rethreading the needle in preparation for the last stitch on the first cut.

“I’ve been in th’ desert longer than they’ve been alive. Plus I ran with locals. They don’t know I’m ‘one of you’.” A humourless laugh slipped from Cherri’s lips, “Though, they didn’t much like that I’m, fuck, how did they put it? ‘Sluttin’ around with that freaky crash queen’.”

“They rolled you for dating Kobra?” Jet replied incredulously. “Two more, by the way.”

“Thank the Witch,” Cherri swore. “No, they were just given’ me a hard time about dating Kobes. But, I got a bit heated when they started using some choice language to rag on you, Kobes, and Pois-”

“Just for being cityborn?” Jet interrupted, curious.

“No. For uh, well... Let’s just say they don’t very much like _anyone_ that gets a new identity.”

“Oh.” 

“So I pulled a knife on them and then things got a little hairy.”

Jet huffed out a laugh and gestured towards the almost-completely stitched up wounds. “A ‘little’ hairy, huh?”

Cherri smirked, “Three on one’s never been my best odds.”

“You tried to take on three guys with just a knife?”

“No! I was just going to give them a scare, you know I don’t like fightin’.”

“And you didn’t expect them to jump you? Witch, Cherri. I say this with all the love in my heart but you’re a fucking idiot.”

“I realized that pretty quickly. But I didn’t just lie there and let it happen and I _don’t_ regret it. No one gets to say that kind of shit about anyone, let alone my crew.”

Jet bit their lip. It was pretty rare for Cherri to be so outwardly protective of anyone other than the Girl. Not trusting their voice to come out steady, Jet tied off the last stitch and rechecked their work. After a moment, they murmured out a simple “Thanks.” Satisfied that the deepest cuts were closed, Jet started to smooth ointment over the shallower ones. 

The silence wasn’t necessarily comfortable, but both Jet and Cherri seemed content to sit in it for a moment. Eventually, Cherri broke it to ask, “Hey, are you just about done with that?”

“Just gotta wrap you up and then yeah. Are you still doing alright? You sure you don’t want anything for the p-”

“No, I’m fine. I was just thinkin- I was gonna surprise Kobes with the brake cable but. Uh... Does Poison have any earrings he doesn’t wear super often?”

“I think so, why?”

“Well, you’ve still got that needle out and Kobes...” The rest of Cherri’s sentence was lost as he scrubbed a hand over his face. 

“Hm?”

“Kobes said he thought I’d be hot with pierced ears.” Cherri turned bright red as Jet stared at him in surprise. 

“You- You really want me to put more holes in your body after I just gave you seven stitches?”

Still not meeting their eyes, Cherri nodded. 

Jet blinked. 

“Yeah, okay. Sure. Let me go grab the earrings.”

Straightening up from where they’d been bent over the booth table, Jet turned and jogged to their bedroom. Once they closed the door behind themself, they took a moment to marvel at the rare insight on the Kobra Kid and Cherri’s relationship. Then Jet located Party’s unused earrings, plain black studs, and returned to the dining room where Cherri sat. 

“Both or just one? Also, I’ve never done this before.”

“I think both. And that’s fine, you know how Kobes does all his piercings. Can’t be worse than him.”

Jet shuddered, thinking of Kobra’s latest attempt to pierce his septum. 

“Alright then, uh... You think a pincushion’s a good backstop?”

A shrug later, Jet grabbed their pincushion off of the counter, poured some alcohol over it, pressed it to the back of Cherri’s earlobe, and started to count to three. On ‘two’ Jet pushed the needle through Cherri’s ear and then quickly replaced it with the earring. 

“Oh. That actually... Wasn’t that bad,” Cherri mused. 

“Cool.” Jet readjusted their grip on the needle. “Actually on three this time. One-” The needle passed cleanly through Cherri’s other lobe. 

“Liar,” accused Cherri. 

“Guilty,” Jet allowed with a grin. 

“How do they look?” Cherri asked, breaking into a small smile of his own. 

“Pretty fuckin’ shiny if I do say so m’self.”

Practically buzzing with excitement, Cherri jumped off of the table and paced to the bathroom. He took in his new appearance in the dirty mirror and Jet figured that if Cherri’s smile grew any wider, they’d have to stitch his _face_ back together next. 

“You think Kobes’ll like em?” Cherri looked at Jet over his shoulder. 

“They do make you look kinda hot,” assured Jet. “You should probably lie down until he gets back. Blood loss and all that good stuff. I’ll grab you some food.”

Reluctantly, Cherri agreed to lie down and wait for Kobra’s return. 

He didn’t have to wait long. Within the hour, Kobes, Ghoul, and Party returned from the concert they’d been attending. Kobra took one look at Cherri, snatched the truck keys from the counter, grabbed Cherri’s hand, and announced that they were going for a drive. The door swung shut behind Kobra and Cherri with a snap. 

Confused, Ghoul and Party turned to face Jet. 

“What’s that about?” Ghoul asked at the same time as Party went, “Was Cherri wearing my earrings?”

Also a bit surprised by the development, Jet stuttered out their response.

“I was- Um. Cherri needed stitches an- then he asked if I’d pierce his ears because, uh- because Kobes thought that he’d look hot with uh, pierced... ears...”

Ghoul started to laugh while Party turned almost as red as their hair. On seeing Party’s determinedly-not-thinking-about-what-Kobes-and-Cherri-do-when-they’re-alone-together face Jet just about burst into laughter themself, before remembering Cherri’s recently-repaired skin. They rushed to the front door of the diner, throwing it open just in time to see the taillights of Cherri’s truck fading into the distance. 

“Try not to pull any stitches!” Jet yelled at the rapidly vanishing vehicle. Knowing that they’d done their best, and praying that Kobra and Cherri would be smart enough to not mess up Jet’s careful handiwork, Jet turned their face to the sky and finally allowed themself to laugh.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts so feel free to leave a comment or shoot me an ask at my [tumblr!](sleevesareforlosers.tumblr.com/ask)


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